Source: IFAW.orgBy Maha OdaSince Kuwait's joining of CITES in 2001, authorities have been making every effort to combat wildlife trafficking. In the last few years, a number of seizures and confiscations took place of CITES specimens in Kuwait such as cheetahs, Syrian brown bear, African grey parrots, green iguanas, baboons, pythons, crocodiles, and red-eared slider tortoises. Recently, IFAW office in UAE joined Kuwaiti authorities to organize a four-day training workshop on prevention of wildlife trafficking for officials concerned with wildlife trade. The training was conducted in collaboration with the Environment Public Authority (EPA), Kuwaiti General Administration of Customs, and Saudi Wildlife Authority (SWA). The training, which took place in Kuwait on the 25-28 November 2013, brought together 35 participants from Kuwaiti CITES management and scientific authorities, customs, police, and agriculture quarantine sectors. Eng. Sameera Alkandari, Director of Planning Assessment of Environmental Impact at EPA, said: there is a need to build national capacities in the field of monitoring wildlife trade in accordance with the CITES regulations which entered into force in Kuwait since 2001. Kuwait is known as a major center of trade and commerce due its strategic location in the Middle East region. In the 9th century, Kuwait became an important trading point, and this drew the attention of traffickers to use Kuwait as a route to smuggle wildlife products and animals.The workshop training would enhance the abilities of officials that will allow them to identify and stop illegal wildlife trade and protect animals from commercial exploitation. More....

Source: Ippmedia.comBy Gerald KitabuA thunderous wheezing sound from a group of hippopotamuses floating on Katuma River near Sitalike village could be heard as we entered the Katavi National Park in Mpanda district, Katavi region enthralling Bishop Charles Gadi of the Dar es Salaam based Good News for All Ministry. He braved the scotching sun capturing every event that was taking place in the River. Katuma River is the vital lifeline of the Park which feeds Lake Katavi in the north and Lake Chada in the centre as well as the huge Katisunga floodplain. In recent years, apart from being used as the source of water for varieties of wild animals, has also become home to thousands of hippopotamuses and crocodiles. Despite being the third largest National Park in Tanzania, Katavi national park was not even known to many people in the country. After getting out of the vehicle to take some photos a group of journalists could see hundreds of grunting hippos murmuring and squeezing themselves into the muddy water. It was journey full of joy, sympathies, friendship, and laughter. Casual glances at trees along the road that crossed the river from Mpanda town to Sumbawanga district, Rukwa region, journalists could see birds swaying smoothly on feeble branches preening their feathers excitedly as they prepared to play on the soft backs of the hippos. Beautiful vegetation and green environment inside and around the national park, has attracted a variety of huge animals, plants and birds species. As he was strolling further through tall green grasses, incredible scenery that include immense wetlands, roaring waterfalls and original miombo woodlands, where the sable antelopes often hide, were enough charm to journalists. However, despite all the wonders that are actually key to attracting tourism in the park which earn foreign currency for the nation’s economy, the national park is faced with several challenges both inside and outside it. More....

Source: Gulfnews.comBy Anjana SankarThe UAE’s wild pet owners are seeking the services of a dog trainer from Kerala, India, to tame their aggressive pets. Christo Babu, 32, known as Chris Wolf, has been tasked with the job of taming wild pets after he domesticated a hostile cheetah in Bahrain earlier this year. “I am flying to Dubai next month to train a leopard,” said Wolf, founder of Wolf N Pack Dog Training and K9 Security Services. His organisation, which has branches in Kerala and Mumbai, specialises in dog training and also offers dogs for security, patrol and drug detection. A resident of Irinjalakuda in Trichur district of Kerala, Wolf is a graduate in business management and has undergone dog training in Germany. He said he has been flooded with calls since the Bahrain assignment. “Most calls are from the UAE and other Gulf countries, for handling cheetahs, tigers and leopards. I am not trained for them. I had handled dogs before this so it was quite an experience to share a room with a cheetah.” Wolf was flown to Bahrain by a royal family member who had rehabilitated a four-year-old cheetah from Ethiopia. “It was my first encounter with an adult cheetah. She was locked up in a room, and seven trainers who came before me had failed to even go near her,” recalled Wolf. “For the first few days, all what I did was unlock the door to the cheetah’s room, peep my head and then lock the door. I did this hundreds of times. I wanted to kill the cheetah’s instinct to attack a human being at first sight. Somehow the plan worked. “Gradually the cheetah got familiar with my face and I started spending more time with her, armed with nothing more than a tin can. Every time she would rush at me, I would beat the tin can on the floor. The clatter scared her and she kept away from me. The first step was to teach the animal to share space with me. “Next up was building trust. I would keep some meat lumps in a tray and stand next to it. Initially, the cheetah would grab them and run away. So I started tying the meat lumps on the tray handles so that she would be forced to have her food in front of me.” The trick, Wolf says, was to act neither as the prey nor the predator. “You should not display any flight or fight syndrome because animals will immediately sense if you are in fear or in combative mood. I remained listless, and did not even make eye contact with the cheetah when it was standing next to me,” said Wolf. More....

Source: Gviusa.comBy Claudia Lifton-SchwernerOver the past six weeks I have been completely immersed into the world of the wild. I have experienced what it means to live harmoniously amongst the magnificent creatures of the African bush. I have loved spending my days researching and learning about the wildlife of Karongwe and I have enormous respect for the staff that has dedicated years of their lives to the animals they love. Rosie and her team are extremely competent, skilled and enthusiastic people. It amazes me how committed they are to protecting the animals in Karongwe and all of South Africa, but they can only do so much.Several species of South African wildlife have been depleted to near extinction due to development, habitat loss, poaching, the exotic wildlife trade, and human population growth. The animals that define this magical country – cheetahs, lions, leopards, rhinos, and several other beautiful, but less recognizable species – are quickly diminishing. In fact, 19% of the 295 mammal species in South Africa were labeled as vulnerable, endangered or critically endangered in 2004. Since then, several more species have been added to the list, and the population sizes of the animals already listed have dropped significantly. Moreover, these are just the mammals of South Africa. Discussing the alarming loss of several species of birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish, invertebrates and vegetation would take up far too many pages to fit into one blog. It is important to note that many of the losses in reptile and bird species are directly connected to the illegal capture of these animals from their natural habitat to be sold as pets so they can spend the rest of their lives as an ornament in a cage. While these drops in population are mostly a side effect development and the resultant loss of habitat many cases are due to the blatantly selfish, barbaric and illegal actions of humans.

The case of the rhinoceros is particularly devastating and infuriating. Rhinos are intelligent, social, emotional animals that are a vital part of Africa’s tourism industry and its legacy. Recently, the Western black rhino was declared extinct by the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature). The remaining five species of rhinoceros are all listed on the IUCN’s Red List of threatened species. Three of them are listed as critically endangered. According to criteria of the IUCN’s Red List, this means that only 3% of their population remains. The primary cause of this is alarming reality is poaching. The brutal act of cutting the horn off of a rhino and leaving it to bleed to death is responsible for the death of 891 South African rhinos in 2013 alone. South Africa is home to 83% of all African rhinos but their numbers are diminishing so quickly that it is hard to see a future for them at all.As someone dedicating my life to animals these numbers and statistics are more like blows to the stomach. It haunts my very existence to know that due to the heinous actions of my species, so many innocent, sentient beings may no longer exist within the next decade. People around the world need to wake up and see this for what it is – an atrocity and a black mark on our morality. We must educate ourselves on the ways in which our species is a detriment to this planet, and try our best to make a positive impact. It is our responsibility to fight for these animals - to finally live up to our name and show some humanity.

Source: Journeywonders.comBy Raphael Alexander ZorenOne of the most precious memories of my childhood is the one of my parents taking me to the Chapultepec Zoo of Mexico City. Being born and raised in Acapulco, it was sure a rare opportunity to behold such magnificent animals such as elephants, rhinoceros, lions, penguins, polar bears and of course, the cuddly pandas. As I grew up, however, this annual visit to the Chapultepec Zoo became more and more depressing. It was truly saddening to see the relatively small spaces in which these large animals were kept and the monotony of their daily lives. “Come on, they look happy, here they don’t have predators and they don’t have to worry about obtaining food” my mother wisely told me when I was nine and started to raise doubts about the conditions and the way animals were treated in the zoo. I politely agreed and yet, the inner (and foolish) me just wanted to release these animals into the wild and let them enjoy their lives. Then, the best (or probably worse) thing happened. They finally freed Willy.The sad ballad of Keiko the Orca Who is Willy? You may ask. Willy is the star of a 1993 movie, “Free Willy” about an orca and a boy. Long story short: The little manages to free the orca into the wild after befriending it. What most people didn’t know was that “Willy” wasn’t a CGI or an actor in a convincing orca suit, it was an actual orca named Keiko (“Lucky One” in Japanese, oh, the irony), that at the time, was based at the “Reino Aventura” Theme Park in Mexico City. Granted, the enclosure was extremely small for an orca of its size so it is completely understandable that after the movie came out, many people protested for the orca to be relocated since it was logical that Keiko needed more space. The “Free Willy-Keiko Foundation” however, wanted to release Keiko into the wild, inspired by the little foolish boy in that stupid kid’s movie. At this point, you’re probably guessing how this story is going to end, don’t you? Keiko was captured at the age of three, meaning that, he had spent more than 20 years living inside of aquariums and was completely unable to adapt to living in the open ocean. The foundation however, managed to release him and, under their care, Keiko finally died in 2003 of pneumonia. To me, the story of Keiko was a cautionary tale about going against nature. But wait, isn’t it already unnatural for animals to be born and raised in captivity? Yes and no. Let me explain.Pros and Cons of Zoos For me, the make-it or break-it point when it comes to Animal Rights and ethics is simple: Was the animal born in captivity or was it captured? More....

Source: News.mongabay.comBy Jeremy HanceBigger than all of Brazil, among the harshest ecosystems on Earth, and largely undeveloped, one would expect that the Sahara desert would be a haven for desert wildlife. One would anticipate that big African animals—which are facing poaching and habitat loss in other parts of the world—would thrive in this vast wilderness. But a new landmark study in Diversity and Distributions finds that the megafauna of the Sahara desert are on the verge of total collapse.

"While global attention has been focused on [biodiversity\ hotspots, the world’s largest tropical desert, the Sahara, has suffered a catastrophic decline in megafauna," the researchers write.

Looking at 14 large-bodied animals, the study found that 86 percent of them (ten of the species) were either extinct or endangered. Four of them (28 percent) are already extinct in the region. The Bubal hartebeest (Alcelaphus buselaphus buselaphus) is gone forever while the scimitar-horned oryx (Oryx dammah) is extinct in the wild, although there are efforts to re-introduce it. Meanwhile, two of the Sahara's once top predators are gone: the African wild dog (Lycaon pictus) and the African lion (Panthera leo).

Megafauna that are still around aren't doing much better. The dama gazelle (Nanger dama), the addax (Addax nasomaculatus), and the Saharan cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus hecki) are all on the razor-edge of extinction with each one listed as Critically Endangered by the IUCN Red List. The dama gazelle and the addax are absent from 99 percent of their historic range; less than 500 dama gazelles survive, while the addax is down to less than 300 animals. Meanwhile the Saharan cheetah is only found in 10 percent of its range with only 250 left. Another top predator—the leopard—is only found in 3 percent of its range. Even the North African ostrich (Struthio camelus camelus)—the world's biggesth—has lost 99.8 percent of its range.

"Greater conservation support and scientific attention for the region might have helped to avert these catastrophic declines," the researchers write. "The Sahara serves as an example of a wider historical neglect of deserts and the human communities who depend on them."

Of the 14 species, only one species is found in over half of its historical range: the Nubian ibex (Capra nubiana). Still even this ibex is currently listed as Vulnerable due to overhunting.

The researchers say that there are likely a number of reasons for the catastrophic declines. More....

Source: Phys.orgA new study led by the Wildlife Conservation Society and Zoological Society or London warns that the world's largest tropical desert, the Sahara, has suffered a catastrophic collapse of its wildlife populations.

The study by more than 40 authors representing 28 scientific organizations assessed 14 desert species and found that a shocking half of those are regionally extinct or confined to one percent or less of their historical range. A chronic lack of studies across the region due to past and ongoing insecurity makes it difficult to be certain of the causes of these declines, although overhunting is likely to have played a role. The study was published in the early online version of the journal Diversity and Distributions.

The Bubal hartebeest is extinct; the scimitar horned oryx is extinct in the wild; and the African wild dog and African lion have vanished from the Sahara. Other species have only fared slightly better: the dama gazelle and addax are gone from 99 percent of their range; the leopard from 97 percent, and the Saharan cheetah from 90. Only the Nubian ibex still inhabits most of its historical range, but even this species is classified as vulnerable due to numerous threats including widespread hunting.

The authors say that more conservation support and scientific attention needs to be paid to deserts noting that 2014 is the halfway point in the United Nations Decade for Deserts and the Fight against Desertification and the fourth year of the United Nations Decade for Biodiversity.

"The Sahara serves as an example of a wider historical neglect of deserts and the human communities who depend on them," said the study's lead author Sarah Durant of WCS and ZSL. "The scientific community can make an important contribution to conservation in deserts by establishing baseline information on biodiversity and developing new approaches to sustainable management of desert species and ecosystems."

The authors note that some governments have recently made large commitments to protecting the Sahara: Niger has just established the massive 97,000 square kilometer (37,451 square miles) Termit and Tin Toumma National Nature Reserve, which harbors most of the world's 200 or so remaining wild addax and one of a handful of surviving populations of dama gazelle and Saharan cheetah. There is also hope that the scimitar horned oryx may be reintroduced in the wild in the Ouadi Rimé-Ouadi Achim Game Reserve, with the support of the Chadian government.

Source: Gulfnews.comBy Janice Ponce de LeonIf you are among those who fancy buying cheetahs and other exotic animals to keep as pets, you are part of the big problem that undermines the survival of the species. “As soon as you start taking out money for the illegal trade, you are creating the market and you are making the problem bigger,” Rozaan de Kock, Carnivore Curator at Al Bustan Zoological Centre, told Gulf News during a visit for the International Cheetah Day celebrated yearly on December 4. Considered the third largest cheetah breeding centre in the world, Al Bustan is a non-commercial and privately funded centre in Sharjah that aims to save the species that is now considered the most endangered big cat in Africa and Iran. The centre started its cheetah-breeding programme with 19 cheetahs in 2004 and has so far resulted in more than 50 cheetah births and six king cheetahs. De Kock said despite government bans on importing big cats for pets in the country, illegal traders still manage to smuggle these animals because there is a huge demand. Cheetahs are among the top five most popular choices for exotic animals as pets. Fight illegal trade by refusing to buy exotic pets As long as there’s demand, there will be more animals sold on the black market “It’s an illegal trade. Even if you try to close this door, they will just open another door. So we just have to be as one to try to boycott them and stop the illegal trade,” de Kock reiterated. Illegal trading of exotic animals, while done privately in the country, is an open secret among residents. Just last month, two undercover Gulf News reporters bought a baby Nile crocodile from traders in Sharjah. The trader boasted he could get our reporters “anything”, cheetahs included. Having cheetahs and other exotic animals is an “in thing” among some residents. In fact, the more dangerous the animal the more exciting it is for these people to have as a pet, de Kock said. This is why earlier this year, animal specialist Dr Reza Khan from the wildlife and zoo management, Public Parks and Horticulture Department at Dubai Municipality, called for tougher laws against the illegal animal trade and more cheetah awareness campaigns. Although cheetahs survived mass extinction during the Great Ice Age when the world underwent drastic changes in climate, the number of cheetahs continuously declines due to loss of habitat, conflicts with livestock farming, competition with larger predators, and the illegal pet trade, according to the Namibia-based Cheetah Conservation Fund. Approximately 10,000 cheetahs exist today, down from 100,000 at the end of the 19th century.

Source: Sciencedaily.comResearch from the University of Kent has revealed that guarding dogs can significantly reduce conflict between livestock and large carnivores, such as cheetahs or leopards, helping to reduce unwarranted killing of endangered species in South Africa. In a paper published in Wildlife Society Bulletin, entitled "Perceived Efficacy of Livestock-Guarding Dogs in South Africa: Implications for Cheetah Conservation," researchers from the University's School of Anthropology and Conservation studied the effect guarding dogs have on the protection of farm animals across South Africa. The research revealed that livestock guarding dogs eliminated livestock losses from predators on 91% of the farms studied, with each farmer saving over $3,000 per year due to the reduction in killed livestock. The team also investigated the tolerance farmers have towards cheetahs roaming their land when they have a guarding dog present. They found that farmers were noticeably more tolerant of predators, resulting in a greater prevalence of cheetahs and other predators on their land compared to farmers that did not have livestock guarding dogs. Nikki Rust, of the University's Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology (DICE), said: 'This research has shown for the first time that livestock guarding dogs can successfully be used in South Africa to protect livestock from attack by predators as large as leopards or small as jackals. 'This is a true win-win solution to reduce conflict between livestock and predators, because it almost eliminates livestock losses to predators, saving the farmer a lot of money, whilst increasing the tolerance of predators from the farmers, thereby reducing the chance of using lethal control on threatened carnivores.' Professor Douglas Macmillan of DICE added: 'Retaliatory killing by farmers is a major threat to the survival of many large carnivore species. This study shows that livestock deaths can be avoided through the deployment of highly trained dogs, and I am sure that there are many similar situations around the world where such dogs could make quite a difference to the survival chances of large carnivores.'

Source: Thoughtleader.co.zaBy Sarah BrittenBefore I kick-off with this, let me state upfront so nobody can miss it: lion breeding in South Africa should be banned. The hunting of lions is clearly out of sync with middle class, Western public sentiment, and increasing their numbers merely exacerbates the problem. Breeding big cats for the gun is something that will go the way of bear-baiting: quaint, terrible and unimaginable. In the short to medium term, we have several thousand lions in private hands who will probably end up in the lion bone trade, because it costs a lot to feed them. We can only hope that the price for lion bone doesn’t reach a point where there’s an incentive to poach lions like rhinos. As it is, we have a lion bone trade now because tigers have virtually been wiped out in the wild. Now, to the issue at hand. By now, just under 500 000 people have signed a petition asking the South African government to ban Melissa Bachman from entering the country again. Half-a-million people think they’ve done something useful, and that they can go on with their lives because hey, online outrage is so much easier than doing anything meaningful.However, if you’re interested in making more than empty gestures, here are some options. 1. Before you do anything, find out about the real issues in lion and big cat conservation. Understand that the threats to lions (and wildlife) in general are less about hunting – though that’s a problem – and more about habitat loss and the ever-increasing encroachment on wild areas. Hunting is more of a problem in countries like Tanzania where it is not always well-managed. In Namibia, where communities benefited from hunting, the size of areas under conservation has increased. In South Africa, where, not only are lions being bred for the gun, there are so many lions on privately owned conservation land that they have to be culled, the issues are totally different. Long story short: hunting is good at expanding habitat for wildlife, not as good at conserving individual species where there is a temptation to over-hunt. 2. Donate to Panthera. This week I put my money where my mouth is and donated $100 to the world’s leading big cat conservation entity. Project Leonardo is devoted to lion conservation in high conflict areas. More....

Source: Scientificamerican.comBy Traci Watson Times are grim for the king of the beasts. Roughly 35,000 African lions roam the savannahs, down from more than 100,000 half a century ago, thanks to habitat loss, declining numbers of prey animals and killing by humans. One study estimated that fewer than 50 lions (Panthera leo) live in Nigeria and reported no sign of the animal in the Republic of the Congo, Ghana or Côte d’Ivoire. Now a king-sized controversy is brewing over a proposal to shore up lion populations before it is too late. A prominent lion researcher has called for limiting conflict between humans and lions by erecting fences around reserves containing wild lions. The idea has split scientists, with those opposed to the idea arguing that fences could do more harm than good. The ensuing debate has also laid bare fundamental differences of opinion about how to preserve lions and other species, and raised concerns that a key challenge to lion conservation — lack of funds — is being ignored while scientists trade jabs about fences. When he began the research that kicked off the furor, Craig Packer of the University of Minnesota in St Paul, who studies lions at Tanzania’s Serengeti National Park, intended to determine only the cost of conserving lions. But something more provocative emerged from his data. In work reported earlier this year in Ecology Letters, he and 57 co-authors calculated lion densities at 42 African reserves and found, Packer says, that the only variables that matter for density are “dollars and fence — nothing else”. He adds that “the fence has a very profound, powerful effect”, because it prevents lions from preying on livestock and people, meaning fewer lions are killed in retaliation. Packer would like to see fences around even some of the largest protected areas such as Tanzania’s 47,000-square-kilometer Selous Game Reserve. But the paper triggered heated discussion, both online and at meetings, leading four months later to the publication of a response signed by 55 researchers. They argue that Packer’s analysis is wrong to use lion population density as its sole yardstick. By that measurement, they say, a dense population of several dozen lions in a small reserve is a success, whereas a large reserve containing 600 lions is a failure. When the authors restricted their study to lion populations whose density did not exceed the land’s capacity to support them and controlled for a reserve’s management budget, they found no relationship between fencing and density. More....

Source: Ippmedia.comEditorialMillions of people across the globe know Tanzania primarily because it is blessed with species of fauna and flora found nowhere else in the world.

It is this rich diversity of wildlife that attracts to the country close to a million tourists every year, most dying to see the animals and plants in their natural habitat – while, in the process, the nation earns much-needed foreign exchange.

But an appreciable rise in the incidence of poaching has forced the government to devise more serious ways of stemming the alarmingly ugly tide.

Poachers are particularly attracted to elephant tusks and rhino horns, not to mention the hides and skins of the likes of cheetahs, giraffes and lions. Most of these have ready markets, particularly in the Far East.

Many in the Asian sub-continent believe the rhino horn has aphrodisiac qualities, while elephant tusks as well as lion and giraffe skins are hot cake as ornaments used in decorating homes, etc. As the market expands, so does poaching, and this because dealing in such trophies is lucrative business.

Figures illustrate the magnitude of the problem: Tanzania boasted some 350,000 elephants at independence in the early 1960s but the number had dwindled to a lowly 55,000 in 1989. However, thanks to an intensive anti-poaching crusade, the number had risen to 110,000 by 2010.

This alone shows that the problem of poaching wildlife can be significantly reduced if concerted efforts are taken by all concerned.

In this connection, we appreciate the support Britain’s Prince Charles pledged on the sidelines of the just-ended Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting held in Colombo, Sri Lanka. He said the UK would join hands with Tanzania in the war on poaching by controlling global markets.

We warmly welcome the pledge, and hope that he will stick to his word. But this should not make our leaders, particularly those involved in the anti-poaching war, any the more complacent than they now are. Rather, they are under obligation to do what most they can do in ensuring the war on poaching is won once and for all. All of us should take the war as a do-or-die campaign to save our wildlife from needless danger or, indeed, from extinction. More....

Source: Gulfnews.comEditorialUAE has always been an active campaigner against the export and import of banned flora and fauna.Wild animals do not, under any circumstances, make good pets. It is impossible to provide them the same environment as their natural habitats, thus putting the onus on the owners to take into consideration factors like habitation, temperature, light, food and water. Instead of adapting to their locale, wild animals are a threat to the communities in which they are kept captive. This is not just from a security point of view (where owners are not professionally trained to ensure their welfare), but also from a health aspect. The threat of passing on rare diseases to humans always exists. Of late, there have been quite a few startling reports highlighting illegal animal trade with a view towards keeping them as pets at home. Keeping exotic pets, like primates, lion cubs and iguanas has become common. Statistics illustrate that the UAE legally imported 10,000 royal snakes and issued four times the permits issued in other Gulf Cooperation Council countries to import big cats like tigers, cheetahs, lions and leopards between 2007 and 2010. These illegal and dangerous transactions must be curbed without hesitation. The UAE is an active campaigner against the export and import of banned flora and fauna. It is a valued member of CITES (Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species). There is a federal law that states the country’s position in this respect. There are also tough punitive measures in place to control the actions of those who flout this law. The Ministry of Environment and Water must ensure that it plays an active role in halting such kind of illegal activities across the country. It must be emphasised, however, that awareness and education about this problem is vital. The problem does not lie with the animals as much as it does with human beings.

Source: Theecologist.orgBy Verity LargoPoaching is no longer about one man and a bow and arrow: it is a huge business, akin to international networks, sprawling across continents. From baby cheetahs, 'medicinal' rhino horn to carved elephant tusks, poaching is identified as a major threat to global stability, the environment. "Most days I'm bouncing around on bad roads for hours, I've lost count of the punctures." Helen O'Neill lifts out her two rocks that are wedging the back wheels stationary, plops them in the car, takes out the jack, and fixes on the newly punctured tyre to the tailgate of the jeep. Helen's morning commute must rank as one of the most splendid in the world. At 6.20am, after a quick boiled kettle wash in a bowl, a coffee, she drives off into the 2200 sq km area of the North Serengeti that she surveys, as part of the Cheetah Project. We're out looking for cheetahs with the Serengeti Cheetah Project. The main remit is to compile basic information about their habits and movements, across a long period of time. We've been driving for four hours, past numerous delighted tourists ogling bucking wilderbeest, startled zebra, colobus monkey, hartebeest, dik diks, oryx, rindebuck, lions and even a leopard. The cheetah project works in collaboration with Serengeti National Parks, and Tanzanian Wildlife Research institute, the most famous, and oldest cheetah project in the world. Helen isn't comfortable commenting on poaching. The conservation world in East Africa is highly political, and people must tread carefully: their visas and ability to keep working in a focussed area rest on not being too critical of East African governments. The tourist industry needs live elephants, not slaughtered carcasses that are funding arms to bomb shopping malls. Poaching is literally the elephant in the room. It's everywhere and massively on the rise. Al Jazeera says sixty elephants a day are killed in Tanzania. Recently the East African Wildlife Society commented:"The data collected over the last 24 months shows a massive escalation in the rate of illegal killing of elephants. The situation is now so bad that by most measures it can be considered out of control and certainly beyond the limits of what elephant populations can sustain."More....

Source: Huffingtonpost.comBy Laurie MarkerOn the morning of November 13th, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service will be destroying the United States' stockpile of ivory, over 6 tons of tusks, in Denver, Colorado at the National Wildlife Property Repository. It is a compelling symbol of the U.S. Government's growing commitment to ending illegal wildlife trade and I applaud it. With a single tusk fetching as much as $130,000 on the illegal market, the destruction of such a large and potentially valuable stockpile is a powerful statement to other nations. The ivory, most of which has been seized at American seaports, border crossings, airports and other locations as part of the illegal trade, is being crushed in good measure because ivory doesn't burn terribly well. But watching massive rock grinders plow into a pile of ivory worth millions of dollars is more than just an alternative solution or even an interesting visual. It's a stark counterpoint to the massive destruction that's being wreaked on wildlife populations by illegal wildlife trade across Africa.

It is true the elephant and the rhino, being killed in mass quantities by highly-networked criminal enterprises so their horns and tusks can feed a voracious illegal market in the Far East, are the most urgently affected victims of wildlife trafficking. But the fact is that there are dozens, even hundreds of species that are being crushed under the heel of the illegal wildlife trade. The information gathered by Cheetah Conservation Fund indicates that there are now over a hundred cheetahs, mostly young cubs, taken every year from the wild as part of the illegal wildlife trade, mostly being taken live and shipped to countries in the Arabian Peninsula, where they are purchased as pets. These are only the ones we know about. Journalists covering this story in Yemen have reported as many as 12 cubs a week passing through the hands of a single trader. Our estimates are that 5 out of 6 cheetah cubs that are taken as part of the illegal pet trade die before reaching the point of sale. When there are less than 10,000 cheetahs total remaining in the wild, and many of the populations most affected numbering only in the scant hundreds at best, these kinds of losses are unsustainable.

And while certainly the individuals purchasing cheetahs are paying a lot of money for their pet, the tender age of the cubs and the conditions of transport wreak havoc on the cubs' development and future lifespan. Cheetahs are highly specialized cats, and are subject to unique health challenges in captivity. Even if a cheetah cub survives being shipped in a small crate without food or water across the ocean and along truck routes for several days, the lack of proper nutrition and veterinary care means many cubs do not survive long. Animals that usually have a lifespan of up to a dozen years or more under optimal conditions usually do not survive much past a year or two, often with horrible deformities that drastically reduce their quality of life. The owners of these animals, upon their untimely deaths, will often immediately go back into the illegal marketplace and purchase another cheetah. More....

Source: Gulfnews.comBy Faisal MasudiWe’ve bought a crocodile – again. A Nile crocodile hatchling, cramped in a small box, was last week delivered to an undercover Gulf News team posing as buyers. Under international rules, Nile crocodiles can’t be traded without strict permits, usually reserved for official purposes. But crocodiles – and other dangerous animals – are easy to buy without permits in the UAE, our investigation shows. We had exposed this underground trade in exotic pets in 2009, when we effortlessly managed to buy a Nile hatchling, which we nammed Harry, from the Sharjah Birds and Animal Market. Also offered to us then were pricy cheetah and lion cubs, baboons, poisonous reptiles, and other wildlife on the restricted or banned list. Four years on, it seems nothing has changed. We got Larry in a little glass cage. Harry cost Dh1,500, and four years on, we snapped up Larry for Dh,1000.The deal We are back at the Sharjah Birds and Animal Market to see what contraband is on offer. The salesman of the first pet shop we visit turns down our bid for a baby crocodile, saying “that’s illegal”. More....

In other jobs, this would be metaphorical. Not for Mr Al Baloushi. The carnivore keeper at Al Ain Zoo spends his days with lions, Bengal tigers, jaguars, cheetahs, pumas, servals and a pair of sibling white tigers named Sugar and Spice.“This is for today,” says the Emirati, opening an enormous double-door fridge loaded with camel meat. He walks to a freezer filled with metal buckets of frozen bones, blood and camel flesh. “These are enrichment for the lions. We hang them.”Bloody ice cubes suspended in lion cages are not just nutritious, they give the lions the chance to play, too.Even after the reopening of Al Ain Zoo’s five Big Cat exhibitions at Eid Al Adha, the carnivores Mr Al Baloushi cares for face a challenge – the zoo is full. There are 25 lions, 10 pumas, nine servals, seven cheetahs, four jaguars and three Bengal tigers. There is no room for any more cats.The Al Ain Zoo faces an unusual dilemma of an oversupply of lion donations from private owners.UAE legislation forbids the sale of any animal on the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites) list without government permits. Even so, cheetah and lion cubs make popular pets and serve as status symbols. When cuddly cubs grow into instinctual killers, people turn to the zoo.“When they start getting bigger they start showing their genetics, they show that they’re a carnivore, so at this age they start to get rid of them” said Myyas Al Qarqaz, the animal-collection manager. More....

Source: Greenprophet.comBy Maurice PicowIs this the right kind of message you should be sending to your kingdom? That large wild felines should be kept in captivity as pets? We ask ourselves these questions all the time, now an almost unbelievable Instagram video of a Dubai prince surfaces. In it Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Crown Prince of Dubai is playing with what appears to be his pet white tiger cub. The video clip below shows the prince “nuzzling” the baby tiger cub who looks to be returning his owner’s affection. The prince was quoted as saying that he has a “strong spiritual connection” to animals, especially horses. It was posted October 17 and has created a viral following. Sheikh Hamdan’s father is the current ruler of Dubai.Where do these pets come from? Ofir Drori from LAGA, an organization in Africa that rescues wild animals from poachers says most of them are smuggled into the Middle East via private jets. While there are laws in some Arab states about owning wild life privately, these laws are apparently not enforced, or relevant if you are the prince. Drori tells Green Prophet that there are live wild animals found all over the world, and about 3000 big cats living in private houses. “The Middle East does have a big demand for felines and live animals in general,” he says. There you can find trade even with apes. “They laugh at it and feel like a hero – yes, this is it. They keep exotic animals to dazzle their visitors – and for the rich and bored, they might even have a black leopard.”We see animal abuse stories in the Middle East all the time. We’ve given a lot of attention to endangered big cats being kept as pets in Arabian Gulf countries like the United Arab Emirates where wild animal “pets” are still commonplace.More....

Source: Coastweek.comA baby elephant of approximately 2 years old was recently found dead at a private game sanctuary.Upon close examination, the cause of death was clearly from a poachers snare that had completely cut off the baby’s trunk as the poor animal probably attempted to free it self in an attempt to rejoin its mother. It is impossible to imagine the amount of pain and suffering this baby went through over the last few days, slowly succumbing to starvation, infection and heavy blood loss. Residents of villages surrounding many national parks and reserves have increasingly turn-ed to bush meat poaching with snares that they leave behind concealed among bushes to trap game meat. As these poachers attempt to catch Dik-Dik, Warthog and the like, unfortunately these traps are unforgiving and will literally capture anything that gets caught in it, with most victims being the juvenile of wildlife such as Cheetahs, Lions and as shown here elephants.Organizations such as Care For The Wild and the Kenya Wildlife Service tirelessly conduct de-snaring operations regularly to rid the parks of these death traps and can even collect over 200 snares a day. Poachers however secretly return to replace the lost snares and the vicious cycle continues. Members of the public are encouraged to contact the nearest KWS or Police stations with assurance of full confidentiality to help track the illegal bush meat poachers and stop the needless killing of our wild animals.

Source: Huffingtonpost.comBy Sally BeckAt the offices of the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy in Northern Kenya, a terrible hush descends when news filters through that poachers have slaughtered yet another rhino. Recently, a two-day-old calf was shot dead, found lifeless next to its dead mother unceremoniously shot with an AK47 rifle bought from Russia. The mother had had her horns hacked off with a machete. Two other adults, relatives of the murdered mother and baby, were slaughtered too, their bloodied faces also missing their precious horns. The gloomy atmosphere that descended at conservation HQ, silenced the good-natured banter between work-mates for weeks. For Lewa's chief executive officer Mike Watson the losses were a bitter blow. "I feel a huge mixture of emotions. Frustration and sadness, but what's worse is when you try to explain to your six-year-old son what's happened and why it's happened, that's always quite emotional." Meanwhile, in the Lewa rhino nursery, Yusuf, one of the rangers, is feeding aptly named Hope, a seven-month-old male white Rhino whose mother was slaughtered by poachers on a neighbouring conservancy called Ol Pejeta. "I must give him milk every three hours," he said. "It is impossible not to get attached to these rhino. They do become like your children." Hope, has two playmates: three-month-old Kilifi, whose mother is blind, and 15-month-old Nicky who himself is blind. Hope and Nicky are rolling in a waterhole, coating their wrinkled hides in sticky mud, while Kilifi rolls over to have his tummy tickled. He sighs with delight and squeaks, making a sound like a large mouse. It's awful to think that one day these delightful toddlers could be killed for their horns.Lewa was a safe haven for the rhino, which had lost none between 1983 and 2009. Now 11 have been poached since the beginning of 2012. The 26-year rapprochement ended with the slaughter of three rhino in 2010 and 2011, and the aim to save and increase Lewa's herd of 62 white and 60 black rhino (which is listed by the World Wildlife Fund as critically endangered) was placed under threat. There are less than 5,000 left in the whole of Kenya and worldwide, one rhino is poached every 11 hours. More....

Iranian conservationists have spotted a rare Asiatic cheetah with four cubs, offering hope that the large cats can be pulled back from the brink of extinction. Only 40 to 70 Asiatic cheetahs exist today, all in Iran. Over the weekend, conservationists with the Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation (PWHF) spotted the five cheetahs in Khar Turan national park in northern Iran. "In the past year or so that we closely monitored Turan, we never spotted a family, especially female cheetahs with cubs," Delaram Ashayeri, project manager at PWHF, told the Guardian. "It shows Asiatic cheetahs are surviving, breeding cubs are managing to continue life. It's good news against a barrage of bad news about these animals." Iranian conservationists have been involved in a decade-long campaign to protect the cheetahs and educate indigenous people living near them. But sanctions imposed by Western nations over Iran's nuclear program have hampered conservationists' efforts, making it difficult to secure international funding and equipment, such as camera traps. Advocates also warn that mining operations and road construction near cheetah habitat have put recovery efforts at risk.

A leading animal welfare organisation and environmental chiefs have joined forces in the fight against the illegal import of exotic animals. The Bahrain Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (BSPCA) has been consulted by the Supreme Council for the Environment (SCE) on new regulations that provide basic welfare standards for exotic creatures that should never have been brought here. It follows a visit by SCE chief executive Dr Adel Al Zayani to the BSPCA's Animal Welfare Centre in Askar. "The visit was a big deal for us," said BSPCA fundraising co-ordinator Joyce Hughes. "It is great the powers that be are showing an interest - and he was mightily impressed with the centre too." BSPCA officials gave Dr Zayani photographs of non-indigenous animals that the society had encountered in Bahrain. Meanwhile, Bahrain's decision to join the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) last year was also discussed. The country now has a responsibility to ensure all international trade of species listed in the convention remains legal, sustainable and traceable. "Animal charities like the BSPCA are effective partners in the fight against illegally importing animals that may harm the indigenous ecosystem and food chain balance," said Dr Al Zayani. More....

Jan van de Reep slowed the Land Cruiser to a stop in the dry sand of the Huab River. Poking his walking stick into the damp sand of a shallow hole, he said, “The elephants used to dig holes with their feet here to get at the water, but recently it’s mainly oryx and baboons that are doing the digging.” We were in the far northwest of Namibia near the Angolan border on an old farm he and his wife Suzi had purchased years ago to restore habitat for the desert elephant and other desert species. One of Namibia’s leading naturalists and safaris guides, he and Suzi had built a small, beautiful guest lodge to provide an income stream to help fund their conservation efforts, making it as eco-friendly as possible: all electric power is from solar, they grow many of the vegetables used in the excellent cuisine they serve their guests and all of their staff come from local tribes. Jan and Suzi’s elephants had come back for a time, but several bulls have been shot as so-called problem animals (“The bigger the tusks, the bigger the problem,” says Suzi, not without irony.) and the others had wandered elsewhere. They are confident that the herd will eventually be back, but for now, oryx, kudus, baboons and a stunning variety of birds will have to do for their guests.Despite the Huab River area’s setback with their local elephants, and worry over whether the explosion in demand for ivory and horn will eventually drive poachers back to Namibia, this nation is known as one of the greatest success stories in stemming poaching in Africa.

In 1980, when what is now Namibia was called Southwest Africa, and a South African colony, there were only around 155 desert elephants (a population group that subsists in one of the driest areas on the planet), today there are around 600. Nationwide, the numbers have swelled from about 13,000 a decade ago to about 20,000 now. Similarly, black rhinos have jumped from only 300 thirty years ago to about 1,700 today. In 2013, just one rhino is known to have been poached, though some six elephants are known to have been poached to date, mainly in the remote Caprivi Strip region. Herds of antelope, once decimated in the tribal regions, have returned along with their attendant predators, lions, leopard and cheetahs. More....

This is Little Mo. She was just a few months old when poachers killed her mother and stole her from the wild. These ruthless wildlife traffickers wanted to sell the cheetah cub as a ‘pet’ in Somaliland, East Africa.

Mo is one of millions of countless big cats, and other endangered animals who are part of the exotic pet trade.US Exotic Pets The illegal trade is a $15 billion dollar business in the United States alone, with breeders and dealers selling animals over the Internet or in trade magazines. It is estimated that approximately 20,000 exotics live in “backyards” all across the US. While some exotic pets have been bred in captivity, many are plucked directly from their natural habitats. The stress of being violently removed from their homes causes some animals to die before they ever reach a private residence.Amazingly, the Endangered Species Act does not prohibit domestic trade in captive-bred wildlife. A grave oversight, considering that although tigers are endangered, more tigers reside in private residences in Texas, than in all the wild.

People purchasing these animals believe them to be cute and manageable until of course they grow, their wild instincts still intact, and become uncontrollable. In 2013, there have been 1,969 incidents (anything from quarantine violations to deaths of animals and/or people) in the US alone.More....

Panthera, the leading wild cat conservation organization, has launched a new initiative to protect lions in Kafue National Park (KNP) with support from PUMA, the renowned sports company, and premier African ecotourism operator, Wilderness Safaris.

PUMA has committed $360,000 through 2015 to Panthera's new anti-poaching initiative in Kafue National Park (KNP) – Zambia's largest protected area and one of the most important national parks in Africa. Panthera, together with PUMA and Wilderness Safaris, will work with the Zambia Wildlife Authority and a local NGO, Game Rangers International, to help support and expand law enforcement activities by local wildlife authorities in KNP. Outfitting and expanding anti-poaching units will be the priority, alongside improving law enforcement monitoring to allow tracking of illegal activities, evaluation of the success of enforcement efforts and optimal deployment of resources for conservation.

"PUMA is inspired by the agility and speed of all big cats," said Justin DeKoszmovszky, PUMA Global Sustainability Strategy Manager. "We are happy to support this new initiative by Panthera to help protect local biodiversity in Kafue National Park as part of our ongoing commitment to environmental protection."

Zambia is one of just nine countries in Africa home to more than 1,000 lions. However, research by Panthera Kaplan Graduate Awards Scholar and University of Cape Town PhD student, Neil Midlane, has confirmed that illegal bushmeat hunting is pervasive in Kafue. Widespread and indiscriminate snaring of lions and their prey has potentially devastating effects on the region's wildlife. Due to their extensive home ranges and habit of scavenging carcasses from snare lines, lions are extremely susceptible to bushmeat poaching. In the dry seasons of 2010-2012 alone, Midlane and his team observed at least 15 lions carrying snares. Fortunately, most of these were immobilized and successfully treated by the Zambia Wildlife Authority and local NGOs, although at least one lioness lost dependent cubs as a result of her injuries. More....